I Am Alive
by He who writes Yaoi
Summary: Zombie AU: The virus spread and spread, killing thousands every day. Kagami Taiga is a scavenger wandering across a post-Apocalyptic Japan and doing whatever it takes to survive. When he meets a fellow survivor, Kise Ryouta, he embarks with him on a journey to the supposed safe haven that awaits them. Can they make it, or will they fall to the undead army? YAOI KagaKise KagamixKise


**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke, nor do I plan to get any profit from this work of fiction. Anything written here is property of Fujimaki Tadatoshi.  
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**Warnings: **Rated** "M" **for varying degrees in male-to-male sex, graphic violence and gore, language, and best of all, **zombies**!**  
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**Pairing:** Kagami Taiga/Kise Ryouta; maybe some side-pairings.

**Writer's note: **This is my first Kuroko no Basuke fanfic. Now I know zombie and apocalyptic stuff aren't that new around here, but... ah, well, I still hope you like it. This story will take some time to be updated as I'm entirely new to the KnB realm, although I've read the manga and watched the anime, so please be patient with me. Anyway, I honestly have no idea of how many people will take interest in this, so whoever decides to give it a shot... please be my guest.

So, without further ado, here is the first chapter of I Am Alive. Enjoy.

**I Am Alive**

One

_Test. Test. Is this thing working? Wow, it's still working. Okay, uh, this is a little awkward for me, but if you've found this, it's because I'm... anyway, my name is Kagami Taiga, and I'm a survivor from the plague that ravaged the world six months ago. I'm running low on food and other supplies, so I'm heading to the city for a little scavenging hunt. Saw a lot of damage on the way, most roads are blocked with debris and cars and most bridges are out, but it seems that there are some parts of town that haven't been bombed when the outbreak started. I'm hoping to find something, and maybe, just maybe, find someone._

_Okay, so... this is basically my life. My backpack, flashlight, canned food and water. I've lost my gun so I'm relying on my machete for now. I never thought I'd have to kill before... and now it's happening on a daily basis. The people I killed, they had a life before they became infected, they had families and friends... no, stop thinking like that, they're already dead. I haven't seen a real, living person in over a year, but there has to be somebody like me, right? There has to be. I need to find someone, anyone, or none of this will make sense._

_... Anyway, sun's rising, and I've got to move. See you later, whoever you are._

Paper fluttered about like startled plastic wrapper birds. Cars lay abandoned in the streets, aged and rusted, like a child's discarded toys; a grim reminder of the way things once were before the outbreak. Towering buildings, remnants of skyscrapers, eaten away, sticking into the levelled landscape in uneven angles. Windows cracked or missing altogether, like rotten teeth ripped out of the mouths. Grass and moss covered the roads, and ivy ran along the walls and fences of the houses and stores. It seemed as though civilisation had ceased to exist all of sudden, and now time was gnawing its teeth on it gradually. However, the bloodstains on the ground, walls and inside the cars, along with the countless rotting corpses gave away to the cause. It was impossible to believe that this had once been a thriving city, and now it had become a massive graveyard, where the nameless horrors of humanity inhabited its streets in the shape of the rotting creatures; abominations from a child's worst nightmares. No sane soul would dare brave into the abandoned cities.

Adjusting his backpack over one broad shoulder, Kagami made his way through the debris. He wore a white tank top along with a pair of old jeans, both materials now a stained black from sweat. A leather jacket was wrapped around his waist. An old, rusted machete was strapped to his back with a leather belt, the blade now a stained red from the blood of the infected; even after vigorous washing, the metal was imbued with a faint crimson that was harmless enough, yet it served as a reminder of the deed he'd committed to cause that stain. He wasn't proud of what he'd done, but he did what he did in order to survive. Show any weakness, lower your guard for even one second, and you're dead.

It had to have been at least six months since the outbreak and it was a miracle that he had managed to survive this long. It was somewhere between October and November now, the air had gotten colder and the leaves were starting to fall from the trees. It was easy to lose track of time when one had to search for supplies whilst avoiding the infected that now roamed the streets. He had been doing nothing but _run_ and _hide_ and _survive_ for the past months, sleeping in abandoned enclaves, raiding random shops and picking up remains of whatever resources he found in them whilst searching for as safe place to escape from this horror.

Safe. Kagami wanted to laugh at the thought; he hadn't felt safe in a long time. How can you when you have to look over your shoulders every couple of seconds to make sure there wasn't any infected trying to feast on your neck? Nobody knew what they were, but those who had seen them knew one thing for sure. They weren't human anymore, they had become something less than human. They did not discriminate, they did not speak, they did not feel anything, they only wanted one thing; human flesh. Like beasts in the wilds, they had one goal in their decayed minds; food. Human flesh relieved them momentarily of the pangs of rot and decay, the blood and tissue eaten by one from a struggling carcass caused a drunkenness inside of them that erased the feeling of flesh betraying its master. When flesh no longer capable of performing its duty was pushed to do so, the pain was unbearable. The forced movement by the undead makes the pain surface and the desire for relief intolerable in itself. Those unfortunate souls who were not entirely consumed by them, but only having an arm or leg chewed out had a fate worse than death, as they would join the ranks of the undead army and hunt for anything that wasn't made of necrotic flesh. Terror was a constant feeling in the minds of the survivors, although he hadn't seen one in a while.

The zombies, or the _things_, as most survivors called them, were relatively easy to "kill". When alone, they were powerless, but were dangerous when in large numbers. A horde was a common sight amongst the infected; even in their decaying forms, they still had a sense of organization within them - as organized as an undead could be. If they saw a living person, they would drag themselves towards that person and consume them, or at least try to rip a flesh out of them. They seemed to advance at a deliberately slow pace, never walking properly, always dragging their lifeless bodies as though they were in a trance. They could not swim or climb tall fences and walls, they could not open doors or pick up heavy objects, but when a large enough mob was gathered they could break through almost any barricade. They were known to rip their victims apart - literally - which caused early witnesses to mistakenly assume the things were endowed with the super-human strength of every classic horror monster. The human body, however, can easily be dismembered, and the things always had numbers in their favour. Thanks to the extreme coagulation in their blood, it was impossible to kill them by bleeding - any wounds would just seal up after a while. Destroying their legs made them a lot less mobile, but not immobile, and even with all four limbs gone, they would still squirm and writhe their way towards their meal. Their only weakness seemed to be their brain. A whack to the head with a blunt object or a bullet between their eyes would destroy the brain, and a sharp weapon would slice through the necrotic flesh, and putting them on sire seemed to work as well. It was _too_ easy to kill them, in fact, that countless people had met horrible ends because they had stopped being careful.

Kagami was snapped out of his thoughts by a distant barking and he sighed as he continued on his path. A post-Apocalyptic world was a quiet one in ways it would have been hard for anyone from before the plague to understand. Living humans had to constantly try to be as quiet as possible because sound invariably brought attention from the ravenous creatures. Sound seemed to be their primary hunting mechanism and they would come from several blocks away to investigate any unnatural noise. And every zombie that came would moan in response and the sound of that would bring more and more, until an entire horde of hundreds of them were gathered. He remembered the noisy pre-plague world, Kagami himself had been a loud-mouthed person, but now even the smallest of the noises would make him jump. His own sense of hearing was much more acute now than ever and he heard every different noise, from the chirping of the birds to the rustling of the leaves. He had always relied on his instincts, and now it seemed that it was the only thing that kept him from getting torn apart.

The streets were usually packed with the flesh-eating creatures, so he was lucky that weren't any of them around. Standing at six feet and four and weighing at two hundred and ten, Kagami was quite an intimidating sight; he had been playing sports and lifting weights since he was fifteen, and even after the plague he was still all muscles, but he was starting to suffer from the first stages of starvation, and his food supply had exhausted three days ago. A person could go for weeks without food, so long as they had water in their bodies - which he did in abundance - but that same person would not be able to function as they would under normal circumstances. Normally, he wouldn't wander into the bigger cities, as the probabilities of running into a horde of the things were higher and he could die at any moment, but he knew the chances of finding food and other supplies were a lot better than in the smaller towns.

Kagami reached the front window of a store, peering at the shadowed shapes within the small building. Musical instruments, toys, games, computers. Once these things were important to him, had shown images and visions of the world as it had been _before_, but now they were simply ignored and had passed from the sphere of necessity. Discarded, worthless, and thrown aside and replaced by other things -_ tools, weapons, food_. Looking away from the shop, he adjusted his backpack on his shoulder once more and continued on his way.

Rounding the corner, he spotted a small convenience store across the street and he noted the difference from the other buildings that he'd seen. It was a fairly new construct, so he guessed that it must have been built shortly before the outbreak. As he got closer he could see that the painting on the door and walls were also fairly new, despite the bloodstains on them. He walked slowly in a crouch past the large windows along the store front, using whatever was placed as cover, trash cans, cars, anything to cover his movements from whatever might be lurking inside. His earlier days in this madness had taught him well from the mistakes he'd made, and survived. Some of them tended to find their way inside a building, and the interior of stores offered places to hide, so to speak. Cashier's counter, rows of shelves and storage areas, all of these would have to be searched before he could even think of scavenging. Taking in a deep breath, he tried to calm his nerves and slowly pushed the door open.

"Hello?" Kagami called out softly into the darkened store, the door creaking open on well-oiled hinges as he peered inside. His own voice sounded hoarse from disuse and it only served as a reminder that he hadn't spoken aloud for a really long time. He didn't expect to find anyone alive inside, but he spoke because he had found that a human voice was almost guaranteed to draw any infected immediately. Aside from the wind, he could hear nothing, so he opened the door wide and stepped in.

The store smelled just like the others he'd raided before; rotten meat, spoiled fruit and vegetables, and a darker smell of death - the kind of smell only a dead human being could produce. Kagami immediately reached behind his back and pulled his machete out, gripping the worn polypropylene handle with one suddenly sweaty hand. The aisles were littered with broken glass and goods, and the floor was stained with dried blood. There was a hand behind the cashier's counter, and as he slowly moved around the counter, he breathed a sigh or relief upon finding that the body was lacking a head; probably it had been killed during one of the raids. Keeping himself lined with the door, ready to move out if he had to, Kagami opened his backpack and grabbed some canned food from the shelves, when a sudden noise startled him and he spun around.

"Shit, you scared me." Kagami breathed, unable to hold a nervous chuckle when he saw what had caused the noise. A cat. It was frozen in a crouch and ready to flee at a moment's notice, its eyes never leaving his. Looking at the mess on the floor, he had a guess it had figured out a way to tear open the small bags of cat food. He was about to pet it when it flicked its eyes upwards behind him. Eyes widening, Kagami swung his machete around and felt the blade connecting with something.

There was a familiar moan as he withdrew the blade and took a quick forward step and spun around. It was missing a good part of its shirt... along with a large portion of its stomach, leaving its entrails hanging out. He didn't waste time thinking about it as he swung his machete downwards in a high diagonal arc, slicing from the shoulder blades to the left hip. The damage was enough to cause it to stagger backwards and he pulled the blade out, striking it again at its neck, effectively tearing its head off. A thick, black liquid that was too strange to be called blood began to seep out of its body. If that cat's eyes hadn't broken contact with his and flicked up to the infected behind him, he'd have... shaking his head, Kagami zipped his backpack and swung it over his shoulder.

With the sun almost gone, Kagami closed the front door for the day. Moving deeper into the store, he opened the back room door and walked in. Closing the door behind him (which thankfully still had the key in it), he locked it and sat on the floor. With a sigh, he reached into his bag and took out some food. Creamed corn or pea soup, it was hard to tell which was, but it was food. As the sun slowly went down, he could hear the shuffling of feet outside in the street and the moans and groans of the infected. After an hour or so, Kagami was sleeping a restless sleep._  
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In the beginning, there had been plenty of conspiracy theorists who believed the government always knew more than what they were telling, but at the time no one believed in such things. Information released by the authorities that was supposed to help had the opposite effect. Random maulings, violent incidents at hospitals, and weird stories of cannibalism in the news reports, had been ignored. But when it couldn't be ignored any longer, alarmed citizens turned to the authorities and demanded a more coherent answer to whatever that was happening. However, it was too late. Thousands of corpses in hospital morgues, the victims of the supposed "cannibals", came back to life weeks later, and hospitals became death traps for the living and incubation houses for the undead. They had been among the first institutions to collapse, leading to an accelerate human death rate and a sharp upswing in zombie recruits. By the time it was officially revealed to the public that some sort of virus or bacteria, stronger than anything they had ever seen before, was the cause of the world-wide pandemonium, it hardly mattered anymore. It had been just one more horror to add to the pile.

Nobody knew its origins. Some had claimed that it was some sort of super-virus created in a lab experiment, some claimed that it was radiation from the outer space, and others said that it was the wrath of God. It _was_ known, however, that a bite from an infected was always fatal, causing the bitten person to sicken, die, and rise up again in a matter of a few minutes, even seconds, and sometimes, weeks. The bodily fluids from the infected were so toxic that anyone who came into close contact with one of them, for _any_ reason, was equally fatal. If the contaminated blood or saliva found its way into a healthy person's bloodstream through any open wound, it was over. This made close combat with the things far riskier than first imagined. It was a sloppy work, no matter what tools were used in the process. Killing them en masse couldn't be avoided, especially in the big cities, where small groups, and then mobs, and then hordes and finally entire populations appeared seemingly overnight. Anything done from a safe distance had to be handled with conventional small arms, but the run-off from the necessary headshots contaminated water supplies. Rain aggravated the problem exponentially, and even hazmat teams "mopping up" the mess frequently became infected themselves. Animals and insects were immune, but acted as potential carriers as they fed on the dead flesh. Immolation seemed the safest way to kill them permanently - after all fire cleanses. Some scientists had theorized that the virus couldn't be spread through the air. It was how things had spiralled out of control. Entire cities all around the world had been quarantined and bombed afterwards, and those who had not been incinerated in the flames were now struggling to find shelter.

When Kagami woke up, the first thing he noticed were the rays of light filtering through the small opening underneath the door, so he assumed that it was morning already. He wasn't even sure when he had dozed off during the night, but it seemed like he had gotten another four hours of sleep. His throat felt dry, and he pulled out a canteen from his backpack which was sitting nearby. He twisted the head off the container and peered at the sparkling blue liquid inside, assessing how much he had left. _Not much left now..._ He thought with a disheartened sigh. How he'd rather drift in a cool river; no such luck in his journey. Pressing the plastic container between his dried lips, he let the liquid slid down his throat, slowly, savouring the taste. Once the drink poured through his oesophagus, he let out a satisfied grunt, screwing the lid back onto the canteen before temptation lured him into its trap, then shoved the plastic cylinder into the backpack and zipped it back.

After securing his backpack, Kagami was about to unlock the door when he heard something toppling over and he froze, focusing his attention to the source. He could hear the sounds of shards of glass being stepped over... something had gotten in, and it was walking around, albeit at a very slow pace. _Dammit..._ He hadn't expected an infected to walk in, and judging from the multiple footsteps, it seemed that there were at least two of them stumbling around. Maybe they had somehow found their way into the shop, and now he was trapped in the storage area. He raised one hand to the hatchway above him to guess how high he'd have to grab it. Too far. He'd need a chair or something to get a hold onto it. The only way of escaping the store was through the small window in the room. His concern was if he would be able to get himself and his backpack through the opening without having to take it off. Thankfully he had learned how to pack light but the thing still weighed a good fifty pounds.

Grabbing the edge of the window frame, he pulled himself up and took a look around. The alleyway was free of zombies. Fully pushing the window open, he noticed that it could fit him and his bag, so he squeezed himself through the opening, grunting as he did so. Hitting the ground with a solid thud, he dashed down the alleyway, making sure to check behind the dumpsters as he went; the last thing he needed was one of those things sneaking up behind him as he had learned in the past. Glancing around as he stepped out of the alleyway, he spotted a street map and rushed over.

_Looks like the shortest way out of town is through the northern edge of the city._ He thought, his finger tracing the route and memorising the street names he had to cross through. Unfortunately, it would take him a day and half to make his way over there, and time wasn't exactly on his side at the moment. Taking one last look at the map, he turned and darted into another alleyway.

Kagami was used to walking through the wasteland, hopping over cars, jumping across small fissures in the ground and climbing walls and fences with the agility and ease that kept him alive for the past months. He was still in the heart of the city, most streets were blocked with cars or debris so travelling through them was difficult and he had to take many detours. Most of the shops he had visited had already been looted, but on the other hand, it gave him hope, because it meant that there were other survivors out there. He hadn't seen one in months, but the evidence of their activities was somehow comforting to him. It meant that he wasn't the only living human in the planet, as he had originally thought.

As he rounded a corner, Kagami crouched behind a dumpster, hoping that his sudden movement might not have been noticed. There were at least ten zombies in his field of vision. Some of them were leaned against the walls or cars while others were standing around, staring into the sky or aimlessly shifting around, looking bored and unconcerned. For some reason they were less active during the daylight and it was only when the sun went down that they went on their hunts. From his position, he could see that the next alleyway was free. Slowly, he moved around the dumpster. The plan was to rush into the alleyway, then he would run into the next street.

At least, that was what would have happened, if he hadn't tripped his feet over a crack in the cement that was just ahead of him.

_Shit!_ Kagami hissed, swallowing back the scream of pain when he felt something sharp piercing the side of his body. His eyes widened in horror as the zombies turned their heads towards him, the smell of blood drawing them like picnic attracted ants.

_Oh, hell._

The sight of their rotten and grotesque appearance gave him the boost of adrenaline he needed to get out of there. Ignoring the pain flaring through his body, he stood up and darted towards the alleyway as the dead stumbled towards him. He was about halfway through the alley, when another horde of infected emerged from the other side. He was surrounded. Kagami didn't hesitate, giving two steps backwards before driving his right shoulder against the rusted door in front of him.

"Come on!" He grunted, the strong smell of rotten flesh surrounding him as they got closer. With one final, hard push, the door gave in as it flew open and collided with the brick wall with a loud _clang!_ and he rushed down the narrow corridor. Howls of frustrated hunger echoed behind him as he dashed towards the door at the end of the corridor. He grabbed the door knob and twisted it around - thank god it was open - before pushing it open and rushing in. Locking the door behind him, he moved one of the shelves and blocked the door, along with a couple of boxes. It wouldn't hold them for too long, but it would give him enough time to catch his breath and think of a escape route.

Wincing, Kagami looked down at where his hand clutched his body; a piece of metal, no wider than a finger, had pierced his right body, just below his ribcage. Thankfully, it hadn't hit any vital organ. _Alright, gotta pull this thing out..._ Taking in a few deep breaths, he grabbed the metal, swallowing another scream as he pulled it out from his body. Covering the wound with one hand, he dropped his bag on the floor and started rummaging around for bandages.

"God dammit." He whispered angrily, sighing with frustration when he found that his medical kit was empty. He had to stop this bleeding, and more importantly, he couldn't risk catching an infection. Gangrene was just as deadly as the virus. Glancing around, he took in his surroundings.

He wasn't even sure of where he was, but it looked like he was in a warehouse. The room was quite large, with an assortment of random belongings locked in some cages. Limping his way down the elevated metal platform, he took notice of the mattresses which were scattered about on the floor. An old television sat on one corner and he wondered if people used to live in here. _Maybe there's something useful in here._ He rummaged around the drawers and shelves, finding a couple of batteries, but no bandages. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found a single medical kit with a couple of bandages in one of the shelves. He had just finished dressing the wound, when he heard something toppling over and he froze.

The sound had come from the room on the second floor. An infected? It could well be one. Whatever was in there, Kagami would have to deal with it. Unsheathing his machete, he readied himself and quietly climbed the stairs, the sound of his booted feet echoing in the large room. Leaning against the wall next to the door, he tried to listen in. He could hear a faint mumbling coming from the room. Slowly, he twisted the door knob and let it open by itself. The mumbling stopped, and he rushed in, ready to beat the living shit out of the undead... only to stop in his tracks.

"Please, don't come any closer." The blond man whispered, arms raised as he pointed his gun at Kagami's head with shaky hands.

_A... survivor?_

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If you are reading this, it's because you either loved this story or you hate it with a burning passion. Either way, thank you for reading the first chapter. I honestly do not know how long this is going to be, I mean I do know where it starts and where it's going to end, I just need to figure out a way to fill the whole in-between, but I do have some stuff planned out.

So, there it is, my first Kuroko no Basuke fanfic. I hope, I really, really hope you liked this story. I really need to know what people think of this story so I can decide to continue it or not. Thank you for reading, and until next time.


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